Lost Castle 2 Review | PC

It seems like time just keeps moving faster, and the same can be said about game development, but we all need to slow down once in a while and enjoy something simple with a fun challenge. Well, Hunter Studio might just have exactly what you need if you’re craving something different from the usual fast-paced madness. However, not much is known about his seemingly obscure studio aside from that it looks like it was founded around 2015, and their first release, Lost Castle, was released in 2016.

 

A little obscurity can actually be a good thing since a little mystery goes a long way. Digging in the past is one thing, but looking at the present shows that Hunter Studio didn’t stop with their initial release of Lost Castle; they released a sequel on 25 July. While Lost Castle took you to and around Castle Harwood to cleanse it of corruption, Lost Castle 2 will take you on a much more perilous Journey to a dark castle at the border of Riyado. So, sharpen your blades and prepare yourself because you’ll have to brave the Black Forest, a village with mutants, the border mountains, and eventually if you can make it that far… The Dark Castle also doubles as a lair for dragons.

Before you can jump into the chaos of Lost Castle 2, you’ll need to create your character, and while the opening cinematic has its upsides, character creation might cause you to underestimate the game as a whole. This is essentially your first look at the art style, and right off the bat, there are some improvements when compared to the first release, but you’ll only get to see what’s really in store once you start your adventure. However, once you’ve made your character, the real fun begins, and you get to meet your adventuring party at the camp.

The camp’s purpose is pretty obvious, it’s your home away from home and where you’ll need to prepare for your journey into madness. However, you might not find much use in the camp at first, but that changes very quickly when you’ve unlocked some new items and picked up a bit of gold. You’ll likely visit Armstrong the most at first for some much-needed upgrades, all of which cost gold. Upgrades are divided into three sections: Blacksmith, Alchemist, and the Ethereal Statue. Lost Castle 2 makes a point of emphasizing how important those upgrades become as you go on runs since they’ll come with ever-useful stat buffs to your starting attack damage, potion strength, and even cost reductions.

 

Next up is Nadia; she’s your supposed Blacksmith, but she only handles your Hunt Gear, which is essentially an alternative skill you can swap out like bombs, jumping, an emergency revives, and such. However, right next to her and somehow with no input from her is where you’ll pick up a starter weapon (yes, it’s odd, but roll with it). A little hint for the starter weapons would have been nice, but you can endlessly reroll them for other types, so if a sword or staff isn’t to your liking, you can reroll for something else like a bow or a greatsword and several other weapons.

Sooner or later, you’ll get to Marquion, your local alchemist, who will help you build your reusable elixir. This is probably the most important tool you’ll have in Lost Castle 2 because even a little healing can go a long way, and you’re definitely going to need a few upgrades for it. Lastly, there’s Dazzle… The Stylist; For those moments where you want to change what your character looks like, and he’s probably the most memorable creature in Lost Castle 2, considering he’s a stylish goblin with a penchant for scissors.

All that’s left now is to go out into the world and slay monsters. Something to keep in mind is that Lost Castle 2 is a Roguelike, meaning you’ll go out and probably die a lot only to end up back at the camp. This might not be everybody’s cup of tea, but Lost Castle 2 has enough charm and options to keep anybody interested. Things keep getting better once you start using weapon abilities or play around with armor effects, and let’s not forget about artifacts either which can spice things up even more. However, all of this can be somewhat offset with Runes.

 

Now, Runes are a form of energy, and there are three types: Akhill (Red), Parati (Green), and Nairu (Blue). Each rune type comes with its own set of perks or buffs, such as gaining energy over time or giving you a power boost; sadly, getting your rune power is a whole other nightmare that can make it somewhat pointless. The reason for this is that you can only get Rune power from the items you pick up during a run, but most items will only add 1 point, and it’s all random. It’s actually easier to just run with what you find and not read too much into Runes.

Where Lost Castle 2 really shines is with how the Roguelike elements were implemented. It’ll stay play like a tower climber where you’ll have options between different types of encounters as you progress, but it looks to be a lot more balanced in terms of what you’ll get. Unfortunately, Lost Castle 2 comes with a massive flaw that might still be fixed in future updates since it is still in Early Access, but the flaw in question is the difficulty scaling as you progress. There’s a balanced difficulty scale between the Dark Forest and the village, but things take a vicious turn when you reach the border mountains with how massively the difficulty spikes and it takes another massive leap as you progress.

With all that said, you have an alternative option to make life a little easier if you don’t want to adventure alone. It's the glorious online co-op. This was honestly really well implemented, even if the matchmaking is completely random, but we’ll share some highlights from this side of life. The biggest feature of co-op is you can’t just be rushed through the whole by party members who can crush everything, everybody votes on the way forward, and then it becomes a majority win. However, every party member has to cast their vote, or there’s a timer before things move on automatically. Next is that loot isn’t shared outright, and it’s instead instanced, giving everybody their unique drops, but you do have the option to share it with others, making it visible to the rest of the party.

 

Life in Lost Castle 2 isn’t just an endless drag of fighting monsters and moving on, you’ll also have to deal with boss fights before you can progress to the next area. This is where another notable difference between solo and co-op comes into play. These two sides also come with their unique boss fights and unique unlocks for future loot drops. It does unfortunately mean that you’ll have to experience both sides of the gameplay if you’re a completionist, but that’s the fun of it all. Lost Castle 2 is meant to be played with others, and you’ll have to work together to get to the end.

On the visual side of life, Lost Castle 2 takes on an art style from a somewhat more detailed cartoon with a few extras that make it incredibly approachable and casual while showing a different kind of beauty. However, the use of active and passive backgrounds and objects. There’s always a clear difference between what you can interact with and what’s just there for the scene. What stands out is the design themes of each area and the characters that inhabit them. And how it all comes together to feel like a cozy release; that’s just overflowing with great atmosphere and charm.

Now, a release like Lost Castle 2 would never be complete with a little sound engineering and music to tie it all together, and there’s no shortage of either in this regard. Running with the usual classic orchestral music was a good choice with the overall theme of Lost Castle 2, but intensifying and adding complexity to the music as you progress to new areas adds a whole extra layer that’ll keep you going for longer.

 

Overall, Lost Castle 2 might have just been released into Early Access, but it’s already shaping up to be a great roguelike with endless potential and replayability. It can get a little dull if you’re playing solo, but that changes very quickly when you have a party to rely on. This doesn’t mean it can’t be enjoyed solo, since there are some sights and scenes to admire too. The only thing that’s missing is possibly a bit more of a story arc and some polish to the difficulty scaling.
 

Jay Claassen (@R3GR3T_3NVY)
Senior Editor, NoobFeed